Foreign ministers of Russia, Austria to discuss bilateral and international issues

MOSCOW, May 3. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will discuss with his Austrian counterpart Sebastian Kurz bilateral and international issues and anti-Russian sanctions on May 5 in Moscow, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.

The foreign ministers will discuss "pressing international problems, along with several practical issues of Russian-Austrian ties," the foreign ministry said.

The relations between Russia and Austria "develop positively, are characterized by a high level of mutual trust, stability and absence of serious problems," it added.

"An important stage of Russian-Austrian relations was the official visit of the Russian president to Vienna on June 24, 2014 - the first bilateral visit of the highest level to an EU country after the introduction of anti-Russian sanctions," the ministry said.

"Following the EU’s general course on Ukraine, Austria nevertheless is among opponents of long-term confrontation with Russia and increasing sanctions pressure," the foreign ministry noted. "This position is shared by many Austrian politicians, public figures and the majority of entrepreneurs. Banking structures, industrial sector, companies in the sphere of services and tourism do not want to curb their business in Russia and do not hide their interest in the soonest normalization of Russian-EU relations," the ministry concluded.